Cull cow prices will hold up if as many farmers as possible make
moves to reduce the leap in the number of animals coming forward
after the OTMS ends on January 23rd and all post-August 1996 cattle
must be sold commercially, the National Beef Association said today.

“The industry should aim collectively at boosting the availability
of commercial OTM cows processed over the next three weeks and
also try to minimise the volume handled immediately afterwards,” explained
NBA chief executive, Robert Forster .

“Stability will mainly depend on how dairy farmers, who
over the last ten years have become used to putting end of lactation
culls through the parlour and then loading them straight onto the
wagon, react to this dramatic change.”

“It is obvious that as many as possible should offer poor
quality post-96 cows to the OTMS while it is still available. A
number of OTMS abattoirs, especially in the South West of England
and the Midlands , have short queues and there will be significant
financial advantages for those who use them.”

“But beef farmers can also help by first of all selling
any animal they think will make more than 100p deadweight to commercial
buyers in the run up to January 20 th when prices will be steadiest
and then holding back immediately afterwards to help the post-OTMS
market get established.”

The NBA thinks cow owners should anticipate the re-opening of
the export market too. This is not expected until mid-March at
the earliest, but may not be much later, and it is clear that cow
beef from the UK will be wanted in France , the Netherlands , Spain
and also in the new accession countries.

“Cows that can be sold for useful sums when export buyers
are active should not be wasted by chucking them at a manufacturing
beef market that is entirely dependent on the still emerging domestic
trade,” said Mr Forster.

“There will be almost immediate demand for UK cow beef
on the short supplied EU market and carcases weighing more than
280kg classifying from P1 to R3 will be wanted which means lower
classification cows sold soon after January 23 rd will almost certainly
be undervalued.”

“The obvious move is to finish as many suitable cows as
possible and present them to export buyers. Not many dairy farmers
will be able to do this but auction sales offer would-be cow feeders
an opportunity to pick out the most likely animals and the more
of these that are held back for 6-10 weeks feeding and are then
sold for export the more stable the post-OTMS cow market is likely
to be.”

“In the meantime the bigger domestic manufacturing beef
buyers will be moving onto the market and their suppliers will
be looking for the type of carcase that has been making 110p-140p
per dwkg .”

“There is no reason why these prices should not continue
for the best cows if the market conducts itself sensibly. At that
price level more imported beef from the Republic of Ireland will
be substituted and momentum for a market that is almost entirely
supplied domestically can continue to build up too.” Mr Forster
added.